Highly Active Well-Defined Palladium Precatalysts for the Efficient Amination of Aryl Chlorides

The efficient preparation of [Pd(Amphos)(cinnamyl)Cl)] and [Pd(Amphos)(TFA)(κ2-N,C-C6H4-CH2NMe2)] (Amphos = 4-(di-tert-butylphosphino)-N,N-dimethylaniline and TFA = trifluoroacetate), two new well-defined palladium precatalysts, is reported. These complexes prove highly active in the Buchwald–Hartwig amination reaction, allowing the coupling of a wide range of (hetero)aryl chlorides, including unactivated, neutral, and sterically hindered substrates, with a wide range of amines, including primary and secondary amines. Finally, the catalytic systems have proven efficient at low catalyst loadings ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 mol %.